1966 Dodge Dart
Spent sometime between yesterday and today and got my doors hung. I'm fairly happy with the fitment. The passenger door gave me the most problems. I finally went to Ace and bought a small bottle jack to help move the hinges up as well as jack the door around. I have bottle jacks but they are all in dads garage! Working by yourself is sometimes a challenge however I cant imagine still being friends with someone if they were helping and i had this many issues hanging the door. I can't say Im very patient and I tend to yell to much! Maybe thats why no one helps! lol
It took a while to get the hinges on and set in place, and then the door latches and strikers also gave me a fit. I wasn't sure if the door had a double click latch or a single click latch. Old Dart 66 (jerry) has given me a ton of info this week. Thanks I appreciate that.
Heres some pics of the door alignment,
Starting with the Drivers door: The first pic shows how bad the doors body edge gap lines are just on the door.
Below is the final gapping. Im happy but I might work on the door line just a little itself. Im going to ask in the body section if anyone grinds that edge straighter or just live with it.
And I'm really happy with the lower gap as its even all the way down.
Now for the passenger door which took most of the weekend as the drivers door only took about an hour. Passenger side I put the door on then attempted alignment then removed the door checked the hinges put back together attempted alignment again then decided to go get a bottle jack to help move things. Finally got things close. Not as good as the drivers door but its acceptable. Heres a few pics:
You can see in the pic below just like the drivers door how far off the door edge is from straight. Again depending on what others say will determine if I try to do anything with them.
And lastly is the bottom gap which is off from the front to back about 1/16". Its not worth the hassle of fighting with it for the lower lip gap.
Now the plan is to get the front fenders hung this week and install the grill and bumper to see how things line up before I go any farther. If everything goes together then the real body work begins.
Heres some idea of whats ahead:
The first 2 pics below show the rear quarters that need finished. These scare me because of making the lines straight while making sure the curve in the body stays nice. Im sure I'll be asking many questions in the body section on this!
Then theres the original body line that ran from the door back thru the rear quarter, however the replacement parts did not have this line so its going to go away. I just have to figure the best way to fill that gap. Im thinking short strand fiberglass. Again thats another question for our body friends to guide me thru.
Thanks for following and I'll get pics of fenders as I move forward. Comments and suggestions always welcome.
Rod
Spent sometime between yesterday and today and got my doors hung. I'm fairly happy with the fitment. The passenger door gave me the most problems. I finally went to Ace and bought a small bottle jack to help move the hinges up as well as jack the door around. I have bottle jacks but they are all in dads garage! Working by yourself is sometimes a challenge however I cant imagine still being friends with someone if they were helping and i had this many issues hanging the door. I can't say Im very patient and I tend to yell to much! Maybe thats why no one helps! lol
It took a while to get the hinges on and set in place, and then the door latches and strikers also gave me a fit. I wasn't sure if the door had a double click latch or a single click latch. Old Dart 66 (jerry) has given me a ton of info this week. Thanks I appreciate that.
Heres some pics of the door alignment,
Starting with the Drivers door: The first pic shows how bad the doors body edge gap lines are just on the door.
Below is the final gapping. Im happy but I might work on the door line just a little itself. Im going to ask in the body section if anyone grinds that edge straighter or just live with it.
And I'm really happy with the lower gap as its even all the way down.
Now for the passenger door which took most of the weekend as the drivers door only took about an hour. Passenger side I put the door on then attempted alignment then removed the door checked the hinges put back together attempted alignment again then decided to go get a bottle jack to help move things. Finally got things close. Not as good as the drivers door but its acceptable. Heres a few pics:
You can see in the pic below just like the drivers door how far off the door edge is from straight. Again depending on what others say will determine if I try to do anything with them.
And lastly is the bottom gap which is off from the front to back about 1/16". Its not worth the hassle of fighting with it for the lower lip gap.
Now the plan is to get the front fenders hung this week and install the grill and bumper to see how things line up before I go any farther. If everything goes together then the real body work begins.
Heres some idea of whats ahead:
The first 2 pics below show the rear quarters that need finished. These scare me because of making the lines straight while making sure the curve in the body stays nice. Im sure I'll be asking many questions in the body section on this!
Then theres the original body line that ran from the door back thru the rear quarter, however the replacement parts did not have this line so its going to go away. I just have to figure the best way to fill that gap. Im thinking short strand fiberglass. Again thats another question for our body friends to guide me thru.
Thanks for following and I'll get pics of fenders as I move forward. Comments and suggestions always welcome.
Rod